1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging device equipped with an image sensor that includes imaging pixels and focus detection pixels, a camera equipped with the imaging device and an image processing method adopted in an image sensor that includes imaging pixels and focus detection pixels.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is an imaging device known in the related art equipped with an image sensor having imaging pixels and focus detection pixels disposed together on a single substrate, which captures an image formed on the image sensor and also detects the focus adjustment state of the image (see Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. 2000-305010).
In the imaging device in the related art described above, a virtual imaging pixel output corresponding to the focus detection pixel position is obtained simply by averaging the outputs from the imaging pixels present around the focus detection pixel or simply averaging the focus detection pixel output and the outputs from the imaging pixel around the focus detection pixel. This means that the virtual imaging pixel output obtained through the simple averaging deviates from the output of the imaging pixel that would otherwise occupy the focus detection pixel position if an edge pattern image or a fine line pattern image is superimposed over the focus detection pixel. This, in turn, may lead to the occurrence of color artifacts, a false pattern or a loss of pattern, resulting in poor image quality.